The Wake & Bake Show

We all appreciate their efforts, so we should understand where they’re coming from. Weed manufacturers vary in kind, but the uniting factor is the danger they face. This documentary tells of the war for control over marijuana distribution in Columbia, a very fertile country for marijuana cultivation. Vice‘s search for three rare strands introduces them to a number of producers and follows the steps of the King of Cannabis.

Meet Arjan Roskam, the King of Cannabis. He’s made a whole business around the cultivation and distribution of marijuana, selling seeds, and founding Green House coffee shops and the Green House Seed Company in Amsterdam. He shows his philosophy, his methods and his people in this documentary.

Commenting on a seed he pulled from the base of a marijuana plant, breeder, Franco Loja says,

This is the original landrace material that I can breed, that I can store in my library, that I can use to create new genetics that are going to win Cannabis Cups, that are going to make people rich, that are going to put people in jail, that are going to change destinies and lives. And this is why I wake up with a smile every fucking day of my life.

Watch this video to understand more about the process that brings weed to your table. Growers are our best friends, y’know. What would we do without them?

Statements by Attorney General Jeff Sessions from April, 2015 regarding marijuana, the dangers of it and the right to seize money from small offenders, represented in a short documentary of a small-time marijuana offense

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking congressional leaders to undo federal medical-marijuana protections that have been in place since 2014, according to a May letter that became public Monday.

The protections, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, prohibit the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent certain states “from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

In his letter, first obtained by Tom Angell of Massroots.com and verified independently by The Washington Post, Sessions argued that the amendment would “inhibit [the Justice Department’s] authority to enforce the Controlled Substances Act.” He continues:

I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.

That research strongly suggests that cracking down on medical-marijuana laws, as Sessions requested, could perversely make the opiates epidemic even worse.

In a Senate drug hearing in April 2016, Sessions said that ‘we need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that it’s in fact a very real danger.’ (U.S. Senate Drug Caucus)

In an email, John Hudak of the Brookings Institution characterized the letter’s arguments as a “scare tactic” that “could appeal to rank-and-file members or to committee chairs in Congress in ways that could threaten the future of this Amendment.”

Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department also sought to undermine the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment. It circulated misleading talking points among Congress to influence debate over the measure, and it attempted to enforce the amendment in a way that “defies language and logic,” “tortures the plain meaning of the statute” and is “at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law,” in the ruling of a federal judge.

The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment has significant bipartisan support in Congress. Medical marijuana is incredibly popular with voters overall. A Quinnipiac poll conducted in April found it was supported by 94 percent of the public. Nearly three-quarters of voters said they disapprove of the government enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized it either medically or recreationally.

Through a spokesman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said that “Mr. Sessions stands athwart an overwhelming majority of Americans and even, sadly, against veterans and other suffering Americans who we now know conclusively are helped dramatically by medical marijuana.”

Advocates have been closely watching the Trump administration for any sign of how it might tackle the politically complex issue of marijuana legalization. As a presidential candidate, Trump had offered support of state-level medical marijuana regulations, including the notion that states should be free to do what they want on the policy. But Sessions’s letter, with its explicit appeal to allow the Justice Department to go after medical marijuana providers, appears to undermine that support.

The letter, along with a signing statement from President Trump indicating some skepticism of medical marijuana protections, “should make everyone openly question whether candidate Trump’s rhetoric and the White House’s words on his support for medical marijuana was actually a lie to the American public on an issue that garners broad, bipartisan support,” Hudak said.

In recent years, we’ve had cause to celebrate. Advances in medical and recreational legalization have built a momentum that’s hard to ignore. We’re talking more and more about health benefits and studies to understand the nature of the drug. The approval rating of marijuana in 1969 was 12%; it’s increased to 60% today.

That doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. Like most things, there are technical difficulties, and the federal law still prohibits all forms of marijuana. That means nothing is safe. Federal agents can still imprison or fine you, no matter the legal status in your state.

In this video, John Oliver does a great job of explaining the details and making them human. Watch to understand the realities of marijuana laws. (17 minutes)

Know the Gritty Details About Marijuana Laws June 15th, 2017smeilunjue

Tony Greenhand was running three hours behind schedule. No matter how hard he tried, the lines he molded onto his hand grenade sculpture—already packed with two ounces of Holy Grail Kush—looked a little uneven.

“I’m a perfectionist on a time crunch,” the 26-year-old had joked before he raced up to Portland, Oregon last month. Greenhand, who turned a knack for joint rolling into a living selling smokeable works of art, had just gotten one of his biggest commissions yet: $7,000 for a small arsenal of large marijuana blunts made to look like weapons.

When he finally pulled into a downtown parking garage, he relaxed a little about the grenade. “It’s OK, I guess, ’cause it’s gonna get smoked,” he said contemplatively, sparking a fat doobie in his Mercedes SUV. The car soon began to hotbox. “Nobody’s really nitpicking.”

Greenhand’s client, a young and ultra-wealthy firearms enthusiast in Florida, had flown out in a private jet to personally collect the joints he had commissioned. In addition to the grenade, there was a 1.5-ounce golden Glock. Then, there was the centerpiece of the consignment—a replica of an AK-47, fashioned from rolling papers and a half-pound of kind bud.

Placing each piece carefully into a cardboard box, Greenhand made his way toward the top floor of the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront. With his long hair, backwards baseball hat, and 150-pound frame, he looked more like a pizza delivery guy than an artist with a grip of sculptures that would make Snoop Dogg swoon.

Greenhand’s wealthy buyer beamed when he saw the guns and the grenade. “The anticipation almost killed me bro,” he said, taking a long pull from a bottle Kettle One vodka. He shook his head in a state of disbelief. A few other people milled about the suite, which was already scarred from an afternoon of hard partying. Soon, hip hop beats and marijuana fumes rippled throughout the room.

Clutching the AK-47, the client’s eyes lit up. “You want to get El Chapo’d right now?”

His friends, a rap crew that included the Bay Area artist A-Wax as well as Rick Ross producer Nonstop Da Hitman, appeared equally enthralled by Greenhand’s work. They spent the next 10 minutes ogling the arsenal. Then, almost instinctively, they grabbed their phones and took turns snapping photos of themselves posing with the weapons—some of which emerged on Instagram within minutes.

The surreal scene didn’t seem to phase Greenhand one bit. Much of his life is every bit as strange these days. “I enjoy it,” he said. “I just try not to enjoy it too much.”

That might be a tall order to Tony Greenhand, who has transformed his gift for rolling ganja into a high art, as well a potent personal brand that’s spreading across Instagram and Snapchat. From a podunk part of Oregon, he turns pot and rolling papers into peacocks and Simpsons characters that are smoked by weed royalty and admired by thousands online.

His ability to mold marijuana has made him into a luminary within the growing cannabis community, a once amorphous subculture that—thanks, in part, to legalization and social media—is now the driving force behind one of the fastest changing social issues of our lifetime. It has also solidified Greenhand’s role as a creative pioneer.

“In a way, what Monet was to Impressionism, Tony is to the art of joint rolling,” said Barry Bard, a cannabis consultant based in Denver, Colorado. “It wouldn’t exist without him.”

Pet owners are using them to treat sickly animals or animals in pain

Medical marijuana has been known to help humans stave off the eye disease glaucoma,treat nausea induced by chemotherapy and ease the inflammation associated with arthritis. But does the same go for dogs? Well, it just may. Medical marijuana dispensaries have already begun concocting cannabis-laced treats for canines. According to Quartz, the burgeoning pet-pot market is straddling a legal gray area. Enterprises hoping to market cannabis-derived products to animals are entering virgin territory in the absences of industry guidelines and sufficient scientific evidence. However, that’s not stopping pet owners from giving their ailing animals edibles to ease chronic pain and illnesses.

Marijuana has been legal in D.C. for about a month now, but there’s one question that may leave those who want to indulge perplexed: How do you get it? According to the law, selling marijuana or exchanging it for goods or services remains illegal. To help those who may not know someone who can give them free marijuana seeds, the D.C. Cannabis Campaign organized two seed-sharing events. Adam Eidinger, the chairman of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, says the events are a chance for people to give away seeds to people who need them. “[W]e have a new right now, and that right is to grow at home,” Eidinger said. “[T]hat’s one way to obtain marijuana.” Attendees can also give up to an ounce of marijuana to someone else, as long as both parties are 21 or older. While the D.C. Cannabis Campaign says they will accept out-of-state IDs, the events are for D.C. residents. “We’ll be checking to make sure you’re 21 and older; we don’t care where you live,” Eidinger said. “But if you tell us you’re taking the seeds outside of D.C., we just won’t let you come in because that’s not legal.” Guests can only give away an ounce of seeds to any one person, and by law, you can only possess up to two ounces outside your home. Once you get the seeds home, you can only grow up to six plants for personal use; only three plants can be mature at a time. In households with multiple adults, that number can increase to six mature plants. City voters approved an initiative legalizing pot last year. Last month, Mayor Muriel Bowser allowed it to take effect despite an attempt by Congress to block it.

A man (64) who was growing cannabis in his converted attic to make “medicinal soup,” has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Paul Duffin of Caheranne Close, Tralee, Co Kerry, had pleaded guilty to the charge of sale or supply of cannabis as well as cultivation on July 12th 2012 at his home. The court heardon Monday how he had a tragic family history. It was also told how he eschewed conventional medicine and had a previous conviction for cultivation. In 2011 he received a suspended sentence for growing the drug. The Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee was told yesterday that while he pleaded guilty to the charge of sale or supply, he insisted he was not selling the drug but growing it “to make soup and tea” for pain relief. He would also offer the soup to friends who visited his home, his barrister Richard Liston said. When Det Garda Eoin O’ Donovan visited Mr Duffin’s home with a search warrant he found “a grow tent” in the attic with eight mature plants and eight bundles drying. It was a “sophisticated operation” (disputed by defence barrister Mr Liston). “He knew what he was doing. He converted the attic for the purposes of growing cannabis,” Garda O’Donovan said. “He denied cannabis was a drug, he said it was a herb.”

The majority of qualified patients in Rhode Island who obtain cannabis from a state-licensed dispensary report having used it as an alternative to conventional prescription drugs, according to a demographic review of patient characteristics published in The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

Thousands of people arrested in Connecticut for marijuana possession now have the right to get their convictions erased after the state Supreme Court ruled Monday that the violation had been downgraded to the same legal level as a parking ticket. The 7-0 ruling came in the case of former Manchester and Bolton resident Nicholas Menditto, who had asked for his convictions to be overturned after the Legislature decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot in 2011.

via; http://www.courant.com

State Supreme Court Ruling Clears Way For Marijuana Convictions To Be Erased June 11th, 2017WeedLush

Marijuana frequently gets a bad rap. How much of it is deserved? After my earlier blog, “Should Marijuana Be Legalized?” I conducted research to find out the benefits and problems linked with marijuana use. While there are many, here are ten of the health benefits attributed to marijuana and, of course, some of the problems linked to its use:

Alzheimer’s—Marijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research by the Scripps Research Institute and published in Molecular Pharmaceutics.

Anxiety—Harvard Medical School found that marijuana may have anti-anxiety effects. Of course, keep in mind that high doses may increase anxiety and paranoia.

Arthritis—Marijuana can alleviate pain and inflammation linked to arthritis.

Cancer—Research in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics found that cannabidiol found in marijuana, turns off a gene called “Id-1,” which cancer cells use to spread.

Epilepsy—Marijuana has been shown in studies by Virginia Commonwealth University, to stop seizures in the school’s animal studies.

Glaucoma—Researchers are working on developing new drugs based on cannabis to treat glaucoma pain after learning its effectiveness for treating the condition. Glaucoma is a condition that increases pressure inside the eyeball and can lead to vision loss.

Nausea—Marijuana contains a minimum of 60 chemicals known as cannabinoids, of which THC is the primary one associated with its mind-altering effects. THC has been used in the treatment of nausea, including drug- or chemotherapy-induced nausea.

Parkinson’s Disease—Research published in MedPage Today found that marijuana use eased tremors and improved fine motor skills in patients with Parkinson’s disease.